Posts Tagged ‘Beats 1’

Did you catch “The Defiant Ones” debut last night? Interesting. If you have not, there will surely be an encore presentation before the next ep. But for now, you should check out this interesting clip of gems from the defiant Jimmy Iovine… talking about the music industry, the effects of technological innovation on it and more like a ‘g’ (as in guru, as in the wise man on the mountain who has seen it all and saw you coming).

Artists should focus on their art! Make good music first, THEN worry about ‘getting paid’ on the road and selling gear and getting YouTube hits. Of course, the industry is not helping. The art is dying because the priorities are screwed up: (1) The industry is still holding to licensing/copyright mantras that still keep money from artists (the source of the art) and (2) the technology is providing promoters (the gatekeepers for artists getting money on the road) a new, albeit largely inaccurate measure of an the ‘value’ of what the artist is putting out. A YouTube sensation who makes music in two weeks is just demonstrating that they can get clicks, NOT that they make music as good or better than artists that spend months crafting their music (who is not getting all those clicks). On the whole, those who crank out tracks in two weeks from the road CANNOT be making better music than folks who take the time off tour and focus on turning out their best product… even if that’s what the YouTube views say. Iovine called that click count chicanery ‘fake news.’

BOOM! And this comes from Iovine, a guy who has made A LOT of money in music. Watch the short, powerful clip above with all three eyes open though. Now, remember that Iovine is with Apple Music; another music-meets-tech entity, where the streams are not ‘totally free.’ EVERYONE has an agenda, even Iovine.

Interesting esoteric insights provided by practitioners who have floated along the edges, and into and throughout Hip-Hop music.

Flying Lotus and Pharrell Williams with real talk for Scott Vener. So how is Hip-Hop doing on the whole? Are the beats dominating while lyricism lacks? That’s what every generation of Hip-Hop, or music in general, says (e.g. it’s not as good as it once was) vs. real is real and this ain’t it… Several angles of commentary on the state of Hip-Hop covered.

Anybody who was not hollering by the time Uncle L wrapped that clip above with, “And you know I can’t live without my [Beats 1] RADIO,” go sit in the corner! Wait, come back. Just play it again, and act like you are supposed to act when you get LL going back to Cali to do do work with the West Coast’s most prolific producer: Act like you are losing your damned mind… Sick in the head. See a snip of LL Cool J’s visit with the Dr. Dre above.

Ten years since Will Smith has been making music. Yep, sounds about right. Been busy with other stuff – being a spouse, a dad, a box office BEAST. But now, we get new music from the vet, Willy From Philly (yeah, that name just happened).

Watch above as Will talks about what he has learned from his kids – going after life with reckless abandon and NO FEAR of failure! And there is that “Suicide Squad” movie and a forthcoming reunion tour with DJ Jazzy Jeff next Summer…talking about that, too.